


Pink Skies

by spearp



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Confessions, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:34:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28422522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spearp/pseuds/spearp
Summary: Iwaizumi opens his eyes to notice that in fact, the skies are not pink. It truly looks like the universe is mocking him when the next song starts, and he hears:Oh my god, I think I’m in loveThe way we stay up late and talk about dumb stuffFollowed by a faint, “What are you doing up here? Hiding from your fans?”.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	Pink Skies

The breath of fresh air is a welcoming change from the bustling hallways that Iwaizumi is escaping from when he opens the rooftop door. He knows virtually nobody -students or faculty- is allowed here because it’s dangerous, but there’s perks of being nice to the staff every morning and even helping the janitor when he has time to spare, so he’s probably not going to tell on him when or if he finds out. It’s not like someone is keeping an eye on him anyways, who’s gonna notice he’s missing for a few minutes if everyone is busy handing or receiving gifts to the crushes that they won’t have the courage to talk to for the rest of the year.

  
What a nice time of the year, _Valentine’s day_ , Iwaizumi thinks bitterly. It’s not that he doesn’t like it, he’s actually more romantic than everyone around him probably think. It’s just that this particular Valentine’s day isn’t going as expected, if he had any hopes for anything at this point.

  
There’s no seats or benches here since it’s not supposed to be a place to stay, but he finds a corner that provides a little shadow even when the sun is very high in the sky, since it’s barely lunchtime. Iwaizumi slides down the wall to sit on the floor while he disentangles his earphones and puts them on. Picking his most recent playlist, he presses on the shuffle button when he finds a comfortable position, closing his eyes while he waits for the music starts. It takes a while since the songs are not downloaded and the signal is not good here for some reason. Good, his phone won’t be a bother if someone tries to reach out or find where he is. He needs these moments of peace, before going back inside and seeing the same scenario of girls chasing Oikawa to give him presents while he accepts with his ever present to the public, fanservice-y smile.

  
_You are my favorite everything_  
_Been telling girls that since I was 16_  
_Shut up, I love you_  
_You're my best friend_  
_Get you under pink skies, I know exactly where we should go_  
_'Cause I love the way your green eyes mix with that Malibu indigo_  
_Talkin' under pink skies, I think our hearts are starting to show_  
_That it's better, you and I, under pink skies_

Iwaizumi opens his eyes to notice that in fact, the skies are not pink. He moves to change the song, and while it shuffles and loads again, he thinks back to what Oikawa said to him this morning, when they were waiting for the first period teacher to arrive and his friend’s desk was filled to the brim with flowers, chocolates, and letters. “I would confess if I think the answer would be positive”, Oikawa had replied when he asked as casually as he could if he had any plans to do something this year. There’s not a lot of Oikawa’s expressions that Iwaizumi has trouble figuring out, which is not as hard when you spend most of the time with the same person, every day, for a lot of years. But all he could get out of Oikawa avoiding his gaze this morning was that he was hiding something, probably related to this question. ‘ _Ah, so he already has someone in mind_ ’, Iwaizumi had realized then, but instead of asking who or why, he simply said “If you don’t try you’ll never know”, feeling like the world’s biggest hypocrite giving advice he didn’t intend to follow himself. _‘It’s different’,_ he repeats in hopes of convincing his troubled thoughts, _‘I could ruin a lifelong friendship if I do say the things I want to say’._

  
He closes his eyes again, swallowing the lump in his throat at the mere thought of that happening, and listens quietly to the music filling the silence of the empty rooftop. He calculates that there’s got to be at least twenty-five minutes of break left, judging by the five songs that he’s heard so far.

  
_If I could, know I would try_  
_Tell me now, tell me how to change your mind_

_I can’t take it back, can’t take it back_  
_Is it even that bad?_  
_We can go back, we can go back_  
_‘Cause I know you know our_  
_Love is like that, love is like that_  
_Can I talk you into_  
_Taking me back, taking me back?_

He doesn’t know if the coincidences are scary or if he’s just overanalyzing the lyrics of every other song, but any of the choices don’t sit right with him. Iwaizumi likes to think of himself as someone very actually in touch with his feelings. He knows what he’s feeling, but he doesn’t like the way the past few weeks he’s been unable to think of anything else, feeling like a stupid teenager in love…which he actually is.

  
The thing is, Iwaizumi doesn’t fall in love like in the movies, like a crash and a sudden life changing realization. It’s not as much a fall as it is a slow gravitation towards love. He knows Oikawa, he’s known him for the better part of his life, and he’s sure he wouldn’t mind knowing him for the rest of it. It’s also not just physical, because while he objectively knows Oikawa is attractive (and he was probably an important part in his self-discovery journey about his own sexuality a few years prior), he’s also aware that is much more than that. Oikawa is the person that knows him best, a steady constant in his life. While sometimes a little -a lot- exasperating, he’s also the person he can rely on to keep calm. And he knows that counts the other way around, that he’s as important to his friend, even without the romantic aspect of it.

  
So, the past weeks have been plagued of crescent thoughts about the topic, of being barely able to hide it from his friend, and -God forbid he ever admits it out loud- of the butterflies and blushing cheeks when he finds that the other does or says something that particularly makes his heart flutter. This led him to almost confess, emphasis on the almost. Almost grabbing a pen and write a full love letter, almost going to buy not chocolates but milk bread to be delivered along the letter, almost tapping Oikawa’s shoulder, and handing that to him today. Okay maybe it wouldn’t have been like that, maybe a more private, heartfelt confession in a private room, where Oikawa’s reaction and reply were for his eyes only. In any case, it’s pointless wondering how it would’ve played out, since it wasn’t happening, not now and not ever.

  
It’s not even the fear of rejection that’s holding him back, it’s the probability of ruining the most important friendship in his life, and the certainty that next year, in only a few months, their paths will totally diverge, ending up even of opposites sides of the world if everything plays out in both of their favors. It truly looks like the universe is mocking him when the next song starts, and he hears:

  
_Oh my god, I think I’m in love_  
_The way we stay up late and talk about dumb stuff_

_And there is no one else, I would rather be with_  
_Please, promise you want me_  
_Oh my god, is my love too much?_

Followed by a faint, “What are you doing up here? Hiding from your fans?”.

It takes a moment for Iwaizumi to notice that the voice is not a background noise from the music that he misinterpreted as words, but it was someone talking to him from afar. It takes another minute for his eyes to adjust to the bright daylight until the figure walks to him and blocks the direct sun rays from his eyes, and only then he can make up the features to clearly see Oikawa, surrounded by a halo in counter light. There must be a metaphor there, somewhere.

“More like your fans”, he replies closing his eyes after a grimace when Oikawa stopped blocking the sun in favor of sitting beside him.

“Don’t be jealous, Iwa-chan, there’s a lot of people looking for you too,” Iwaizumi notices how his mouth made a slight pout when he said people, probably instead of girls. “What are you listening to?” Oikawa didn’t even finish the question before he reached out and took the earphone right from Iwaizumi’s ear and put it on, something that should’ve bothered him more than it did.

Almost like an afterthought, Iwaizumi figured he wouldn’t truly mind sharing a pair of earphones with Oikawa all the time if it meant they could get to sit this close together. He immediately regretted thinking this when the other took the phone from his hands, unblocked it with his own fingerprint like it belonged to him, and went to look for the most annoying K-pop song that had been playing on repeat both in his house and in the gym for the past weeks.

* * *

Iwaizumi Hajime isn’t dumb, far from it, but this doesn’t mean he can’t make stupid decisions sometimes. Especially when they’re related to matters of the heart. He tells himself it will be for the best in the long run, so he starts by leaving the house twenty minutes earlier than usual. He follows with using his lunch break to fit in a study period on the library, since exams are coming up, and finishes by taking in a few tutoring gigs for underclassmen after practice. It’s not like he’s avoiding anything, or anybody, he’s just gotten busier. It’s the last year after all, and he should keep up his grades if he pretends to go to college overseas.

  
He does avoid thinking about Oikawa’s face saying he would confess if he thought the other person would say yes, and how he never found out if he did anything because he never asked. He just went home on Valentine’s day and started the new ‘routine’ the day after.

The response is immediate, Oikawa calls him at seven forty in the morning asking why he left early (wanted to catch a teacher before class), he’s followed at lunch to the library and questioned why he’d eat here (I’m behind on my math homework) and is stopped on his way out of the locker room (I have to tutor some kids on biology). By the third day the excuses pile up and start to mean nothing and Oikawa stops pushing, briefly. By the seventh day, the following Monday, the other is fed up and demands answers.  
“You’re avoiding me”, Oikawa starts when he’s barely a foot in on the gym. “I’m not”, Iwaizumi answers automatically, ready to brush off this interaction like all the past week. “You are,” Oikawa insists, “you are not answering my texts”.

  
“We see each other all day every single day”, he replies, which has been true for very long, but not the previous days, and they both know that. “That’s not an answer. Also, you went out with Makki even though you told me you didn’t wanna hang out”, Oikawa states.

  
“I didn’t, but we had scheduled that last week,” and Iwaizumi is ready to finish this conversation before it even starts, until he hears a tint of worriedness overlapping Oikawa’s irritation when he says “Well…you would tell me if there was something going on right? You won’t avoid me anymore?”

  
“I’m not avoiding you! Is it really necessary that we talk about Every. Single. Thing?” Iwaizumi is getting tired of keeping a façade while knowing he’s in the wrong, but he can’t turn around and tell Oikawa the truth either. “Iwa-”, and he also knows the bastard would probably apologize even if he’s right just to make it better but he also doesn’t want to hear it so he just stops thinking about ending the conversation or giving logical answers, and says, “And you don’t tell me everything either, I wouldn’t know that you liked someone if I hadn’t asked”.

  
Oikawa seems like at a loss of words and Iwaizumi is hopeful of having heard the end of it until he asks, “Is this what this is about?”, and it just rubs him the wrong way, because Oikawa’s voice sounds pitiful, but he doesn’t know for whom he’s sorry for. “Of course not, but maybe we don’t have to be stuck together all the time for things to be fine, you know?” And now Oikawa is truly taken aback, but he’s truly fed up with the other demanding things he can’t give, so he ends up making it worse by saying, “And maybe we should get used to it, with how we will be going to different universities next year and all.”

  
Apparently, Mondays aren’t a good day to demand anything, and with both of them tired, running on low sleep and increasingly angry, it doesn’t end well in practice. While it doesn’t get physical, it starts with them not coordinating their attacks, Iwaizumi hitting almost zero to none of the balls Oikawa sets for him, and it ends up with them yelling at each other for things related and unrelated to the practice. It is probably one of their worst fights at the club, enough that it gets the team intervening, both called to the coach’s office because it wasn’t Captain/Vice-Captain behavior, and Iwaizumi’s performance has been very poor the past week, not that he noticed.

  
“I’m not avoiding you” Iwaizumi offers, trying to avoid the current silence on their walk home, that hasn’t been awkward between them for as far as he knows, but it is now. It’s hard to lie when his subconscious is telling him ‘you’re lying, why are you lying’, in a voice that sounds worryingly like Oikawa’s. The real Oikawa though, looks at him with furrowed eyebrow like he knows a well-known fact, and is only confused at how the counterpart doesn’t understand such a simple concept, before sputtering a “Yes, you are” in a way that sounds weirdly like his subconscious.

  
Iwaizumi doesn’t need to be told twice, by himself or others, he knows he’s lying. He’s gotten better at it over the years, for small things like deadlines, but never at Oikawa, never for the things that mattered. So, it takes some effort to keep a neutral face, to make a point, and it confuses him a little when Oikawa’s resolve starts to waver, like he doesn’t know that established fact as well as he thought, like maybe the sky is green and the grass is blue, and he’s just finding out about it.

  
When it seems like something finally clicked inside his brain, Oikawa’s expression shifts to one of surprise, before turning his lips into an exaggerated circle and releasing a soft “Oh” that Iwaizumi thinks doesn’t go with his face, and that it sounds sadder than it should be. Oikawa looks away, seeming conflicted for a second, like he was just proven with evidence that what he thought was not only wrong but also everyone else was aware of it, even a little embarrassed. The sky is green, Iwaizumi is not avoiding him, the grass is blue, maybe they drifted apart. “It’s okay”, Oikawa mutters to the floor like he doesn’t mind not being heard, like he’s trying to convince himself more than the others, but Iwaizumi always, always listens. And he hears the soft sad voice, and the sharp intake of air that Oikawa takes before schooling his face in an obvious fake laid back smile, and is Iwaizumi’s turn to be confused, because it feels as foreign as lying to Oikawa and as familiar as Oikawa just believing him anyway because he trusts him.

* * *

“So, this is what it was about. Figures”, Matsukawa starts after Iwaizumi ends retelling the last week’s events and ends up sharing his dilemma with both his friends, who ignore him when he appears confused as to how they apparently knew, “What??”.

  
“If you tried getting over him by avoiding him and it doesn’t work, maybe you should try telling him”, Hanamaki offers like that same idea wasn’t the one that started this whole problem. “Why would I do that when he likes someone else, and we won’t see each other next year”.

  
“You don’t know if he likes someone else”, Iwaizumi feels a squeeze in his heart but doesn’t entertain the thought that it might be himself, so the idea is gone before it can even begin. “It’s still not worth it. I’m not risking my longest friendship for a stupid crush”. He’s met with silence and after a while he looks up to find both of them staring like he grew another head or just said the Earth was flat. He knows he cannot win this discussion alone, so he compromises. “Okay, maybe I’ll tell him if the opportunity comes, but I’m not promising anything”, which seem to be enough to placate them, because Makki lets the topic end with “That’s okay, but don’t avoid him either”. Iwaizumi listens.

* * *

The next few weeks are torture for Iwaizumi. He finds that he missed Oikawa so much that is not hard at all to try to get back in pace, the pace he’s known since he has memory. And as much as he feared the other one would be mad, that doesn’t happen. There is still a lingering awkwardness that neither of them dares to speak about, but he knows the setter won’t push him if he doesn’t want to talk about it, so he supposes it has to fade away eventually. He hopes is soon though, so he can go back to pining quietly enough that it doesn’t comes between their friendship. Even if its strong enough that he doesn’t forget about it when they’re walking home together and he has to talk himself down of taking a few steps closer so their hands will touch, or when he sees the intensity in his eyes when he’s doing what he loves most (hint: volleyball), or when he goes out of his way to stay with Iwaizumi a little longer (hint: at the library doing math homework because while everything else was made up, exams are not). After all, everything Iwaizumi needs is Oikawa happy and close, in whatever form he decides to give himself, he will take it. As it has been their whole lives.

  
Contrary to popular (Hanamaki and Matsukawa’s) belief, he’s very self-aware of his feelings, and his decision to not come forward is very calculated. Pros and cons list and all that. He’s also sure that even if he falls out of love eventually, it’s unlikely he’ll feel this way about another person in the future. They’ve been through so much, he’s all about Oikawa that non-Oikawa’s couldn’t compare even if he stopped talking to him today and took the rest of his life to meet another potential love interest. He’s todays Iwaizumi Hajime because of Oikawa Tooru.

  
He’s also had time to think about what their friends said (more like, hinted with their eyes rather than speaking with words. Why are they so weird?). He figures that their friendship isn’t so fragile that it can’t endure an unrequited love and a (probably) failed confession. Even imagining the worst-case scenario, he can’t see Oikawa turning his back from him, all he can think about is that it could be awkward, but it can’t be worse that what he made it to be this past month. He’s in love with Oikawa, and Oikawa isn’t in love with him. He came to terms with this a long time ago. He’s okay with it, really. He might as well try his shot and putting all this issue behind them once and for all.

  
What he’s not okay with is the way a second-year student is coming into the hallway in the opposite direction with his eyes fixated on the same person he’s looking for. Iwaizumi is headed to get Oikawa for practice when he watches the scene unfold seemingly in slow motion in front of him. Even if his face doesn’t show confidence, the kid is holding firmly a piece of paper in a pink shade with a big heart on the middle that cannot be mistaken as anything else but a confession letter. He’s not close enough to figure the words scribbled in it, but he guesses it must have Oikawa’s name printed on the front, because that’s the locker the guy stops at. Shyly tapping the taller male’s shoulder, he braces himself to deliver the confession, and even meters away Iwaizumi finds himself preparing for it too.

  
The two students are facing away from him, but still, he gets the need to duck himself behind a locker, as if going closer or standing fully in the hallway would be like interrupting a too intimate event. It’s not the first time he’s walked on a similar scene, as there’s also people with Oikawa-tunnel vision that deem him irrelevant enough to not mind hitting on his friend right in front of him. Even if a few times, it was a little disconcerting, he never really minded, as he knew every single time what the answer was going to be. A simple thank you and a kindly delivered rejection.

  
Regardless, it’s the first time a boy has confessed his crush openly to Oikawa. He knows it’s only logical that more have, some are even part of the fan club, but this is the first time he’s seen it displayed. There’s no big deal in that. Right now, he also know what the outcome is going to be, but at the same time he has a realization that leaves him feeling like the Earth just shifted a few degrees on its axis. While Oikawa has had a few girlfriends, he hasn’t had a boyfriend. He hasn’t expressed explicit interest, but he also hasn’t denied the possibility. On the off chance that Oikawa says yes now, which he hasn’t done yet as the kids apparently too blinded by the nice smile to string a full coherent sentence together, it would mean that Oikawa was open to dating someone of the same sex. Which is totally fine, better than okay if you ask Iwaizumi. Strangely, the only important conclusion he can gather from this is that maybe his friend also likes guys. And he’s also sure that he’s not included in that population. So, if he’s rejected, it would not be because he was a guy, but because he didn’t like him, Iwaizumi Hajime, particularly. Maybe he wasn’t as okay with it as he thought.

  
He does not stay long enough to hear Oikawa’s answer.

* * *

That day he leaves practice as quietly as he arrived, barely exchanging greetings with his teammates, and apologizing every time he missed a spike, which was a lot of times. Oikawa throws him worried looks but after the last time he know better than to prod for answers, and it’s better that he lets Hajime calm down and talk to him later. Which he’s grateful for because his brain doesn’t seem to be cooperating and all he can do is force himself not to run away every time the setter is in his close proximity, which naturally is a lot of the practice time.

  
The next day things don’t get better, but he can at least pretend that he’s a functional person that can focus for the whole hour that morning practice lasts. He doesn’t get by without a reprimand from the coach, and when he catches the pitying glances of basically all the team when he gets to the changing room, he decides he can’t keep this up. Without a lot of recollection of what happens at school that day, Iwaizumi pulls through with a single idea, that may or may not be the worst he has had in a while, but at least he can make something to try and get out of this embarrassing lovesick state.

  
Taking action is easier said than done, so he spends a good few hours staring at the blank piece of paper with no idea where to start. He can’t condense basically all his life with Oikawa in a few paragraphs, and that’s not the point really. His friend doesn’t need a summary of their moments together, he was there after all. After taking a break for dinner, homework and a shower, Iwaizumi finds himself in front of the same dilemma as earlier. Not a single word written. He doesn’t know why it’s so hard since he’s not planning to give it to the recipient either, just trying to put his feelings and thoughts in order. He suddenly grew a lot more respect to all the people that have confessed Oikawa and himself in their school years, it takes a lot more courage than it seems.

  
His phone suddenly lights up with a notification, and under the 11:43 PM mark there’s displayed a team picture from last year. He was smiling smugly to the camera while the captain was turned to him with his mouth open mid-sentence as to retort something. Despite the complaints, he kept the picture because Oikawa looked funny. Before he can remember exactly what they were bantering about, the phone vibrates again with another ping. He stares at the incoming message banner until the screen goes back to black, and with a sigh he picks up the pen and gets to writing.

_Shittykawa (2)_

_I know you’re awake, Iwa-chan, you need your beauty sleep more than I do_

_Also, not to push, but you know you can tell me anything right? gn_

There were very few times that Iwaizumi has walked to school without Oikawa in all of his academic life -including when he was avoiding him- it’s too quiet, he doesn’t really enjoy it. While letting of his feelings loose into the paper made him feel like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and he didn’t have the sensation to flight every time he thought of facing Oikawa, he had to take the chance to get to school earlier than him. He also had a very narrow courage window to do it, probably if he left the task for after classes he would chicken out and avoid it completely.

  
It wasn’t the plan writing a love letter _per se_ , but after a few hours of writing he figured it couldn’t hurt to deliver these words to their rightful recipient. Anonymously, of course. Oikawa got a lot of the same cards every week, so it shouldn’t be hard to conceal this undecorated piece of paper in between them. He made sure to erase the parts that were too specific or possibly incriminating, which turned out to be a lot, but he wasn’t about to write the thing all over again just for it to look pretty. It was even better this way, since Oikawa probably won’t give a second glance at such a unremarkable gift. Iwaizumi wouldn’t even be mad if he threw it in the trash after a quick skim over.

* * *

The next day started as calmly as it hadn’t been in a while. Iwaizumi had lifted a weight off his shoulders, and Oikawa was really, really happy, for an unknown reason that could vary from eating milk bread for breakfast to winning the lottery. It felt nice, to gain back that tranquility and familiarity that came with their friendship, that it almost seemed stupid that Iwaizumi made a problem of such a small thing. But now everything was fine, and at the end of the day he was sure he made the right choice.

  
“Hey, can I borrow your math book? I spilled ink on mine last night and its unreadable.” Oikawa turns to him fast when they are walking out of school, like he just remembered that he had academic responsibilities. “Yeah sure, it’s in my locker, do you wanna go get it?” Iwaizumi answers even though he knows the chances of Oikawa doing extra effort -for something he himself needed- were odd. “Not really, I’m tired, but I can invite you an ice cream on the way home!”, he offers with an award-winning smile, even when Iwaizumi would have probably said yes anyways.

  
Iwaizumi retraces his steps towards the lockers as fast as he can after a long day of classes and a tiring practice session, just wanting to get home as soon as possible. He’s thinking about what else he can bully Oikawa into buying for him at the convenience store when he opens the door of the locker. All of his tiredness is quickly replaced with confusion when he sees a single white paper fall out of the locker onto the floor. His heart rate picks up when he bends to lift the paper, even if he tells himself is probably a student festival flyer or someone got the lockers mixed up. This is proved wrong as he turns the paper and reads the few but Earth-tilting words written carefully on it.

  
_We’ve known each other since before learning to write, did you really think I wouldn’t recognize your handwriting?_

_PD: scratching the words with pen is better than using Liquid paper, you can still make out the words from the other side of the paper._

_PD2: I like you too._

His legs were moving before he had time to process what he was reading, leaving his locker open and running to the exact spot he had left Oikawa at the front gates. He was displaying that knowing smile that Iwaizumi didn’t know what he wanted more, to punch or kiss it out of his face. “Was this you? Do you mean it?!”, he says in between heaving breaths, because for an athlete that was just exhausted, this truly ended up knocking the breath out of him.

“Yes, but we must go back because I really need the book, I wasn’t lying when I said I spilled ink on mine. Who knew it was so hard to write a confession letter, even if this wasn’t a letter, just a response, an acknowledge receipt if you will-”. Iwaizumi was sure Oikawa could keep going all afternoon if he didn’t tell him to shut up, so he did it the way he had been imagining for months: by kissing him.

* * *

When they sit outside the convenience store listening to music together on shared earphones, while eating ice cream, Iwaizumi does a mental note to tell Oikawa that the playlist that they are hearing is the one he made for him on Valentine’s Day. He also notices the sun is setting and the sky is tinted a pinkish shade, and he knows there must be a metaphor there somewhere too. For now, he just whispers to Oikawa the lyrics that most resonate with him at the moment.

_Do you think that we should make out?_  
_You know I want you still_  
_You are my number one, baby_  
_I like you lots_  
_I think everybody knows, baby_  
_I like you lots_

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Thank you for reading. This is the first fic I've published in years, and also my first Haikyuu work. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think about it! 
> 
> Prompt: Oikawa finds Iwaizumi listening to music in a quiet space.
> 
> Title is from LANY's Pink Skies. Other lyrics mentioned are also LANY songs (Taking me back, Dumb stuff, Like you lots).
> 
> Find me on twt @ prdswng to see me ranting about life but in spanish


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